Beginning in mid-June, a major scuffle began in the basketball public opinion position in the United States, with the New York Times as the center, the New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, the New York Post, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune. All kinds of news flew all over the sky for a week, and the major newspapers not only had their own opinion articles, but also constantly quoted and reprinted other sources, and all kinds of rumors flew all over the sky for a while.

In stark contrast to the dull and boring pre-draft of last year, the only surprising aspect of the '00 draft was the swap between the Celtics and the Mavericks. But by the time the Madison Square convention kicked off on June 27 this year, there were no less than 100 trade rumors related to the draft. Like the Wizards with the top pick, rumors have been circulating that they traded the best pick; Or the Clippers, who have a second-pick option, are rumored to be interested in talented high school student Tyson Chandler, hoping that the Clippers can take the player and are willing to pay a big price for his comeback.

The same is true for the high picks, let alone the middle and low picks, from the 10th to the 25th picks, there are trade rumors circulating for almost every draft pick, which makes the young people who participate in the draft also panic, and they don't know how long they can wear the hat of a certain team after being drafted by that team before being sent to another city.

This has something to do with last year's poor draft, the level of rookies in 2000 was really disappointing, and this year there are undoubtedly some more outstanding young talents coming in, which has certainly given the player market a lot of excitement. But another important reason is that Leon and his party worked tirelessly to carry out information dissemination and intelligence work in New York for a week, and he opened a room with Wallace and Morey in a small hotel in Brooklyn, New York, and used it as a base to start moving around every day, or to have dinner and party with various scouts gathered in New York to exchange information about the draft, and to walk out "inadvertently" about some news; Or just stay in your room and spread all kinds of news through the Internet.

Leon is a good player on both fronts, and a year of working with the Development League's scouting team has allowed him to meet a lot of unknown basketball workers, especially a large number of scouts who may be insignificant figures in the NBA, never in the news, but an important part of the league's ecosystem. They produce and provide all sorts of news about the players, and they are inextricably linked to a lot of journalists, agents and team administrators, and one of them may not have much energy, but when they are connected, they can make a big difference. Leon told them what he knew and what he wanted others to know, and they didn't try to distinguish between them, but only spread them layer by layer, so the already chaotic market rumors suddenly became even more chaotic.

Online, Leon is also forward-thinking, which is what sets him apart from other veteran managers, and while Jerry West, Auerbach or Pat Riley were still talking on the phone, Leon has begun to reach out to more basketball sources through ICQ. Maybe he's just a high school basketball coach in New York, but Leon can still get a little bit of useful information from him, or spread the news he needs to spread, and he's like a large network processor, with an intricate network of information in his head, covering all aspects of this draft under his methodical control.

Of course, Leon's news network is still too low-level compared to those old foxes who have been in business for many years, and he has not been able to obtain the information that is really accurate enough to make a final decision, and he has been muddying the waters more in the past week to cover up the Celtics' intentions in this draft, in case of sniping in the draft in previous seasons.

"Now I can't figure out what the hell you're trying to do in the draft? Nearly half of the news that has appeared in the New York newspapers lately is probably spread by you, and you know how much work it takes me to sift through some useful information to write a review article? One moment you say you want to be interested in Radmanovic, and the next you say you want Diop, and I say man, you don't need to hide it from me, you can tell me anything. With more than five hours to go before the start of the draft, in Washington Square Park, near Madison Square Square Square, Vojnarowski grumbled to Leon, who was sitting next to him, as he pushed his glasses.

After coming to New York, Leon didn't have much time to meet Wojnarowski, both of them were very busy, and they didn't meet in the park until the draft was about to start, listening to his friends' complaints that Leon spilled all the pigeon food he bought, and the greedy pigeons around him came around one by one to peck the corn kernels clean. Leon clapped his hands and said to Wojnarowski: "I didn't actually get any very useful news, you know we've been muddying the waters, we're not in a good draft position, if we don't pick the guy we want, or what we want, our whole plan will be hit, you know, this time we put a lot of effort into it." Andrey, I hope you can do me a favor and spread another message to us, and I will definitely repay you with a big news in the future. ”

It was the first time Wojnarowski had seen Leon like this, he knew that Leon rarely asked for help, he was a kind but proud person, and it was much more difficult for him to ask for help than to help others, so Wojnalovsky nodded without thinking about it and said: "No problem, maybe this will overdraw some of my credit, but it's okay, I'm sure you'll give me something back." ”

"Okay, then I hope you can convince all teams that the main goal of the Boston Celtics in the draft is to select a good interior player, especially a center!"

……………………

Five hours later, the 2001 NBA Draft kicked off at Madison Square Garden, just like last year's draft, with rookies, journalists, scouts and fans gathered, and dozens of cameras broadcast this annual major event that symbolizes the NBA's endless life and vitality to the United States and even the world through television signals, showing people the metabolism of basketball.

The young people sitting in the audience were excited, expectant and nervous, and many of them had their fates changed tonight; While the team managers and scouts sitting in the stands on either side are also nervous and anxious, and the fortunes of many teams will also change tonight, and although this draft looks like it lacks a superstar who can change the course of the league, there are still some talented young people to look forward to.

At half past seven ET, Stern walked up to the center of the Garden Square on time to announce the start of the draft and give the Washington Wizards five minutes to make their choice.

Leon sat on it and looked down as he did last year, but the difference was that this time he personally used the phone to contact Angie in Boston, and if there was any change on the scene or news from the headquarters, he would communicate through the telephone in front of him.

"Hey, make a bet, who's the Wizard pick?" It was the first time Morey had attended such a conference, and he was undoubtedly a little nervous enough to make a bet with Leon.

"Kwame Brown. I'm betting on three hamburgers. Leon responded, his eyes fixed on the venue.

Five minutes later, Stern took the stage again and read out the results of the Washington Wizards' selection, and they used this valuable pick to win Kwame Brown from Georgia Green High School, and the audience was jubilant, Brown will be the first high school student in history, the big man who averaged 20 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks per game in high school, walked into the stands with a smile and cheers, which may be the peak of his life.

"Well, I'll lose you three burgers. How do you know they're going to pick Kwame Brown? Morey asked, and while Kwame Brown appears to be the most talented of the top candidates, his status as a high school student has also made many people distrust him. Of course, Garnett in 1995 and Kobe Bryant in 1996 minimized that distrust and paved the way for Brown to be selected as the No. 1 pick.

Leon pointed to the audience and replied, "Look closely, don't you think Brown looks a lot like Jordan?" If I were Jordan, I would look like me. ”

This is perhaps the most nonsensical explanation Morey has ever heard, although a closer look at Brown does look quite like a young Jordan. Morey knew that there was only one reason why Leon said such things, and that was that he was not in the mood to care about those high-ranking shows at all, so he obediently closed his mouth and stopped asking questions.

As with the pre-draft news, it wasn't all groundless, and the first big trade was not long in coming, and after the Clippers acquired Domingos High School's Tyson Chandler in the second place, the Bulls immediately offered a trade and sent Elton Brand, the team's 1999 No. 1 pick, to the Clippers in exchange for the freshly released Rookie Chandler.

"Stupid deal." Leon commented that he had heard about the signs of this deal, but he didn't expect the Bulls Prime Minister to make such a decision.

The Atlanta Hawks, who had the third pick, picked Pau Gasol from Spain, who was also quickly traded by the team, and the Hawks sent him to the Grizzlies for Abdou Raheem, handing the Spaniard to Memphis. The transaction was so swift that Gasol was photographed with a grizzly bear hat in one hand and an eagle's hat in the other.

The transactions can be described as one after another, and the Nets, who hold the No. 7 pick, also traded three for the Rockets one at a time.

Of course, Leon is most concerned about whether the person he wants can wear the Celtics' green hat.

Finally came to the tenth pick, Orlando Magic, ahead of the Celtics, their choice is extremely critical for the Celtics, because the person they want to pick away is still waiting anxiously in the audience, as long as Orlando does not interfere, the Celtics' first step can be realized.

At this point, Stern walked up to the stage, smiling, holding a note with the results in his hand, Leon pursed his lips and waited nervously, his fists even clenched a little white.

The Orlando Magic selected ...... from Oak Hill College with the 10th overall pick Desagana Diop! Stern finally unhurriedly announced Orlando's selection, and Leon finally breathed a sigh of relief and let go of his fist, knowing that this was the beginning of his and Auerbach's vision for the Celtics for the next two years.